Alberts, Arthur, Ph.D.

In 1993, Dr. Alberts received his Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, where he studied with James Feramisco. From 1994 to 1997, he served as a postdoctoral fellow in Richard Treisman’s laboratory at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, England. From 1997 through 1999, he was an Assistant Research Biochemist in the laboratory of Frank McCormick at the Cancer Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Alberts joined VARI as a Scientific Investigator in January 2000. He was promoted to Senior Scientific Investigator in 2006 and to Distinguished Scientific Investigator in 2009.

Alberts, A.S. 2010. Formins: dangling plot threads in a multi-act performance. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1803(2): 151.  PubMed   Article  

Deward, A.D., K.M. Eisenmann, S.F. Matheson, and A.S. Alberts. 2010. The role of formins in human disease. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1803(2): 226–233.  PubMed   Article  

DeWard, A.D., and A.S. Alberts. 2009. Ubiquitin-mediated degradation of the formin mDia2 upon completion of cell division. J. Biol. Chem. 284(30): 20061-20069.  PubMed   Article  

DeWard, A.D., K. Leali, R. West, G.C. Prendergast, and A.S. Alberts. 2009. Loss of RhoB Expression Enhances the Myelodysplastic Phenotype of mammalian Diaphanous-related Formin mDia1 Knockout Mice. PLoS ONE 4(9): e7102.  PubMed   Article  

Eisenmann, K.M., K.J. Dykema, S.F. Matheson, N.F. Kent, A.D. DeWard, R.A. West, K.A. Furge, and A.S. Alberts. 2009. 5q- Myelodysplastic syndromes: chromosome 5q genes direct a tumor suppression network sensing actin dynamics. Oncogene 28(39): 3429-3441.  PubMed   Article  

Shi, Y., B. Dong, H. Miliotis, J. Liu, A.S. Alberts, J. Zhang, and K.A. Siminovitch. 2009. Src kinase Hck association with the WASp and mDia1 cytoskeletal regulators promotes chemoattractant-induced Hck membrane targeting and activation in neutrophils. Biochemistry and Cell Biology 87(1): 207-216.  PubMed   Article  

Shi, Y., J. Zhang, M. Mullin, B. Dong, A.S. Alberts, and K.A. Siminovitch. 2009. The mDial formin is required for neutrophil polarization, migration, and activation of the LARG/RhoA/ROCK signaling axis during chemotaxis. J. Immunol 182(6): 3837-3845.  PubMed   Article  

Deward, A.D., and A.S. Alberts. 2008. Microtubule stabilization: formins assert their independence. Current Biology 18(14): R605-R608.  PubMed   Article  

Sarmiento, C., W. Wang, A. Dovas, H. Yamaguchi, M. Sidani, M. El-Sibai, V. DesMarais, H.A. Holman, S. Kitchen, J.M. Backer, A. Alberts, and J. Condeelis. 2008. WASP family members and formin proteins coordinate regulation of cell protrusions in carcinoma cells. J. Cell Biol. 180(6): 1245-1260.  PubMed   Article  

Wang, P., M.R. Bowl, S. Bender, J. Peng, L. Farber, J. Chen, A. Ali, Z. Zhang, A.S. Alberts, R.V. Thakker, A. Shilatifard, B.O. Williams, and B.T. Teh. 2008. Parafibromin, a component of the human PAF complex, regulates growth factors and is required for embryonic development and survival in adult mice. Mol. Cell. Biol. 28(9): 2930-2940.  PubMed   Article  

Dent, E.W., A.V. Kwiatkowski, L.M. Mebane, U. Philippar, M. Barzik, D.A. Rubinson, S. Gupton, J.E. Van Veen, C. Furman, J. Zhang, A.S. Alberts, S. Mori, and F.B. Gertler. 2007. Filopodia are required for cortical neurite initiation. Nature Cell Biol. 9(12): 1347-1359.  PubMed   Article  

Eisenmann, K.M., E.S. Harris, S.M. Kitchen, H.A. Holman, H.N. Higgs, and A.S. Alberts. 2007. Dia-interacting protein modulates formin-mediated actin assembly at the cell cortex. Curr. Biol. 17(7): 579-591.  PubMed   Article  

Eisenmann, K.M., R.A. West, D. Hildebrand, S.M. Kitchen, J. Peng, R. Sigler, J. Zhang, K.A. Siminovitch, and A.S. Alberts. 2007. T cell responses in mammalian diaphanous-related formin mDia1 knock-out mice. J. Biol. Chem. 282(34): 25152-25158.  PubMed   Article  

Gupton, S.L., K. Eisenmann, A.S. Alberts, and C.M. Waterman-Storer. 2007. mDia2 regulates actin and focal adhesion dynamics and organization in the lamella for efficient epithelial cell migration. J. Cell Sci. 120(19): 3475-3487.  PubMed   Article  

Kamasani, U., J.B. DuHadaway, A.S. Alberts, and G.C. Prendergast. 2007. mDia function is critical for the cell suicide program triggered by farnesyl transferase inhibition. Cancer Biol. Therapy 6(9): 1422–1427.  PubMed   Article  

Peng, J., S.M. Kitchen, R.A. West, R. Sigler, K.M. Eisenmann, and A.S. Alberts. 2007. Myeloproliferative defects following targeting of the Drf1 gene encoding the mammalian Diaphanous–related formin mDia1. Cancer Res. 67(16): 7565-7571.  PubMed   Article  Featured in Nature  

Wallar, B.J., A.D. DeWard, J.H. Resau, and A.S. Alberts. 2007. RhoB and the mammalian Diaphanous-related formin mDia2 in endosome trafficking. Exp. Cell Res. 313(3): 560-571.  PubMed   Article  

Wallar, B.J., B.N. Stropich, J.A. Schoenherr, H.A. Holman, S.M. Kitchen, and A.S. Alberts. 2006. The basic region of the diaphanous-autoregulatory domain (DAD) is required for autoregulatory interactions with the Diaphanous-related formin inhibitory domain. J. Biol. Chem. 281(7): 4300–4307.  PubMed   Article  

Alberts, A.S., H. Qin, H.S. Carr, and J.A. Frost. 2005. PAK1 negatively regulates the activity of the Rho exchange factor NET1. J. Biol. Chem. 280(13): 12152–12161.  PubMed   Article  

Colucci-Guyon, Emma, Florence Niedergang, Bradley J. Wallar, Jun Peng, Arthur S. Alberts, and Philippe Chavrier. 2005. A role for mammalian Diaphanous-related formins in complement receptor (CR-3)-mediated phagocytosis in macrophages. Current Biology 15(22): 2007–2012.  PubMed   Article  

Eisenmann, Kathryn M., Jun Peng, Bradley J. Wallar, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2005. Rho GTPase-formin pairs in cytoskeletal remodeling. In Signalling Networks in Cell Shape and Motility, 206–230.

Wen, Ying, Christina H. Eng, Jan Schmoranzer, Noemi Cabrera-Poch, Edward J.S. Morris, Michael Chen, Bradley J. Wallar, Arthur S. Alberts, and Gregg G. Gundersen. 2004. EB1 and APC bind to mDia to stabilize microtubules downstream of Rho and promote cell migration. Nature Cell Biology 6(9): 820–830.  PubMed   Article  

Peng, Jun, Bradley J. Wallar, Akiko Flanders, Pamela J. Swiatek, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2003. Disruption of the Diaphanous-related formin Drf1 gene encoding mDia1 reveals a role for Drf3 as an effector for Cdc42. Current Biology 13(7): 534-545.  PubMed   Article  Featured in Current Biology  

Wallar, Bradley J., and Arthur S. Alberts. 2003. The formins: active scaffolds that remodel the cytoskeleton. Trends in Cell Biology 13(8): 435-446.  PubMed   Article  

Alberts, Arthur S. 2002. Diaphanous-related Formin homology proteins. Current Biology 12(23): R796.  PubMed   Article  

Alberts, Arthur S. 2001. Identification of a carboxyl-terminal diaphanous-related formin homology protein autoregulatory domain. Journal of Biological Chemistry 276(4): 2824-2830.  PubMed   Article  

Tominaga, T., Sahai, E., Chardin, P., McCormick, F., Courtneidge, S.A., and Alberts, A.S. 2000. Diaphanous-related formins bridge Rho GTPase and Src tyrosine kinase signaling. Molecular Cell 5(1): 13-25.  PubMed   Article  

Alberts, A.S., Geneste, O., and Treisman, R. 1998. Activation of SRF-regulated chromosomal templates by Rho-family GTPases requires a signal that also induces H4 hyperacetylation. Cell 92(4): 475-487.  PubMed   Article  

Alberts, A.S., and Treisman, R. 1998. Activation of RhoA and SAPK/JNK signalling pathways by the RhoA-specific exchange factor mNET1. The EMBO Journal 17(14): 4075-4085.  PubMed   Article  

Sahai, E., Alberts, A.S., and Treisman, R. 1998. RhoA effector mutants reveal distinct effector pathways for cytoskeletal reorganization, SRF activation and transformation. The EMBO Journal 17(5): 1350-1361.  PubMed   Article  

Alberts, A.S., Arias, J., Brindle, P., Claret, F.X., Smeal, T., Karin, M., Feramisco, J., and Montminy, M. 1994. Activation of cAMP and mitogen responsive genes relies on a common nuclear factor. Nature 370(6486): 226-229.  PubMed   Article